The University of Colorado is proud to be a champion of cybersecurity. This October, during Cybersecurity Awareness Month — the global effort to help everyone stay safe and protected when using technology whenever and however you connect—the Office of Information Security, University Information Services and campus OITs are promoting key behaviors to encourage every employee to stay safe online.

As the implementation of digital tools and platforms has grown exponentially over time, we’ve gone from having just a couple of passwords to managing hundreds. You might even be one of the 70% of people using the same password for most of your accounts — and that’s not safe. If your one password gets stolen, it can be used to gain access to all your accounts and your sensitive information. But no need to fret, password managers are easy to use and make a big difference.

Password managers are one of the best ways to manage unique passwords and protect your digital privacy. A password manager is a software application created to manage and store all your online credentials like usernames and passwords in a safe, encrypted database.

Password manager benefits

• Saving time.
• Protecting your identity and information.
• Reducing how often you need to reset a forgotten password.
• Notifying you of potential phishing websites.

Additionally, password managers require you to remember just one complex password — the one you’ve set for accessing the manager. They encrypt and store the rest, accessible for your viewing and usage at any point.

While CU does not directly support a password management application, CU Boulder's password managers web page lists two reputable password managers that follow industry best practices and are considered good options.

In addition to password management, creating strong passwords plays a huge role in staying cybersecure. Review our best practices for strong password creation here.